“Max Headroom 14 Feet” — A roll-up garage door in an alcove, Aberdeen.
Our May visit to Aberdeen, Scotland marked a transition on our trip. We had just completed a week-plus driving tour of Northwest Scotland, where we spent a lot of time in rural and wild areas. After returning our rental car in Inverness, we went straight to the station and boarded a train to Aberdeen, where we planned a quiet stop before heading on to Ireland. Why Aberdeen? Patty had visited the city decades ago when she went to the UK for an international orchestra festival. She wanted to return and see what she might remember of Aberdeen.
“A Doorway” — Decorated doorway in a stone building, Aberdeen, Scotland.
For some reason I can’t quite define, doors seem to be a popular photographic subject. Perhaps it is curiosity about what lies behind them — both the prospect of something being hidden and the notion of leaving one space and entering another. I often photograph them without quite knowing why, only intuiting that they appeal to me. Here I liked the contrast between the cold and angular nature of the stone structure and the the organic forms painted on the doorway.
“Windblown Trees at Loch Stack” — Two windswept trees backed by Loch Stack and Scottish highlands mountains.
The last few days of our drive around northwest Scotland followed an indirect route. After more or less tracing the North Coast 500 route from Skye toward Durness, our plans had us making a longish detour to the historic lodge at Altnaharra. This meant leaving the NC500 and heading south into the highlands on less-traveled roads. I made this photograph along the detour late in the day.
“Three Peaks, Rain Clouds” — Distant highlands peaks in light rain, beyond tree-covered hills.
Arriving at this spot involved one of the driving adventures that characterized much of our time in northwest Scotland. We followed a main road northward from Skye, and here we diverged to the west toward the coast. As we topped a rise we looked back and saw this spectacular scene — spots of sunlight on nearby hills, light rain falling between us and three distant tall peaks, and a dramatic, cloud-filled sky.
